IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v50y2023i1p24-43.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The shape and size of urban blocks

Author

Listed:
  • Ermal Shpuza

Abstract

Two measures of shape compactness and fragmentation are coupled together into a plot that is defined as a two-dimensionalmatrix for classifying boundary shapes. Block shapes in a large sample of cities result in a swallowtail distribution in the matrix, which exposes two fundamental ways of transforming the basic compact block: by dissection, corresponding to large blocks with internal dendritic streets, and by stretching and bending, corresponding to serpentine blocks in hilly terrains and edge blocks along highways, railroads, and canals. The density of cases in each matrix zone reveals the realization of actual blocks out of the probable shape combinations as a manifestation of the social logic of urban form. The observed affinity between the shape and size of non-basic blocks in cities is used to formulate a model that explains them according to the constraints of arranging plots along the streets combined with the requirements for the intelligibility of navigation and the minimization of travel distance. Considering blocks as intra-street cells, the proposed block classification reveals important links between topological and geometric aspects of the street networks thus contributing to urban modeling, morphological classification, and comparative studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ermal Shpuza, 2023. "The shape and size of urban blocks," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 50(1), pages 24-43, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:50:y:2023:i:1:p:24-43
    DOI: 10.1177/23998083221098744
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23998083221098744
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23998083221098744?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Thorndike, 1953. "Who belongs in the family?," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 18(4), pages 267-276, December.
    2. Masahiro Taima & Yasushi Asami & Kimihiro Hino, 2019. "The relation between block size and building shape," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 46(1), pages 103-121, January.
    3. Miguel Serra & Sophia Psarra & Jamie O'Brien, 2018. "Social and Physical Characterization of Urban Contexts: Techniques and Methods for Quantification, Classification and Purposive Sampling," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(1), pages 58-74.
    4. Lämmer, Stefan & Gehlsen, Björn & Helbing, Dirk, 2006. "Scaling laws in the spatial structure of urban road networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 363(1), pages 89-95.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Becken, Susanne & Stantic, Bela & Chen, Jinyan & Connolly, Rod M., 2022. "Twitter conversations reveal issue salience of aviation in the broader context of climate change," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Archana R. Panhalkar & Dharmpal D. Doye, 2020. "An approach of improving decision tree classifier using condensed informative data," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 47(4), pages 431-445, December.
    3. Michele Cincera, 2005. "Firms' productivity growth and R&D spillovers: An analysis of alternative technological proximity measures," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(8), pages 657-682.
    4. Horstmann, Felix, 2017. "Measuring the shopper's attitude toward the point of sale display: Scale development and validation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 112-123.
    5. Elizaveta Zinovyeva & Raphael C. G. Reule & Wolfgang Karl Hardle, 2021. "Understanding Smart Contracts: Hype or Hope?," Papers 2103.08447, arXiv.org.
    6. Zhao, Yingrui & Hu, Songhua & Zhang, Ming, 2024. "Evaluating equitable Transit-Oriented development (TOD) via the Node-Place-People model," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    7. Zhang, Tong & Zeng, Zhe & Jia, Tao & Li, Jing, 2016. "Examining the amenability of urban street networks for locating facilities," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 457(C), pages 469-479.
    8. Fabian Adelt & Johannes Weyer & Sebastian Hoffmann & Andreas Ihrig, 2018. "Simulation of the Governance of Complex Systems (SimCo): Basic Concepts and Experiments on Urban Transportation," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 21(2), pages 1-2.
    9. Chester Harris, 1955. "Characteristics of two measures of profile similarity," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 20(4), pages 289-297, December.
    10. Xin Li & Yongsheng Qian & Junwei Zeng & Xuting Wei & Xiaoping Guang, 2022. "Measurement of Street Network Structure in Strip Cities: A Case Study of Lanzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-17, February.
    11. Lihua Xu & Huifeng Xu & Tianyu Wang & Wenze Yue & Jinyang Deng & Liwei Mao, 2019. "Measuring Urban Spatial Activity Structures: A Comparative Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Marrel, Amandine & Iooss, Bertrand, 2024. "Probabilistic surrogate modeling by Gaussian process: A new estimation algorithm for more robust prediction," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    13. Shahzad, Murtuza & Alhoori, Hamed & Freedman, Reva & Rahman, Shaikh Abdul, 2022. "Quantifying the online long-term interest in research," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    14. Wang, Shiguang & Zheng, Lili & Yu, Dexin, 2017. "The improved degree of urban road traffic network: A case study of Xiamen, China," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 469(C), pages 256-264.
    15. Boztug, Yasemin & Reutterer, Thomas, 2008. "A combined approach for segment-specific market basket analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 187(1), pages 294-312, May.
    16. Martin Kueppers & Christian Perau & Marco Franken & Hans Joerg Heger & Matthias Huber & Michael Metzger & Stefan Niessen, 2020. "Data-Driven Regionalization of Decarbonized Energy Systems for Reflecting Their Changing Topologies in Planning and Optimization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-15, August.
    17. João Antunes Rodrigues & Alexandre Martins & Mateus Mendes & José Torres Farinha & Ricardo J. G. Mateus & Antonio J. Marques Cardoso, 2022. "Automatic Risk Assessment for an Industrial Asset Using Unsupervised and Supervised Learning," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Chompoonut Kongphunphin & Manat Srivanit, 2021. "A Multi-Dimensional Clustering Applied to Classify the Typology of Urban Public Parks in Bangkok Metropolitan Area, Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-18, October.
    19. Gao, Ran & Li, Angui & Lei, Wenjun & Zhao, Yujiao & Zhang, Ying & Deng, Baoshun, 2013. "A novel evacuation passageway formed by a breathing air supply zone combined with upward ventilation," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(20), pages 4793-4803.
    20. Glenn Milligan & Martha Cooper, 1985. "An examination of procedures for determining the number of clusters in a data set," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 50(2), pages 159-179, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:50:y:2023:i:1:p:24-43. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.